Guest Post: Xojo Networking by Eric Gibbon

Published October 28, 2014 by
Xojo

Eric Gibbon has been a Xojo developer since 1999. When not heading up the Birmingham, UK Xojo User Group, you can find Eric at MacTasks.com where he offers consulting services and develops bespoke multi-platform multi-user databases for Mac, PC and the Web using Xojo.

Last year work wasn’t going so well, and I was feeling down. I had lost my “Xojo mojo”. As a freelance developer it can be hard to do everything you need to and it is easy to get bogged down. Sometimes you need a fresh injection of ideas and opinions, to see what other developers are doing and how they do it.

So I made the effort to visit several talented developers that I had met at Xojo events here in the UK. They were very enthusiastic about getting together. We enjoyed lunches out, gave demonstrations, exchanged ideas, chatted about Xojo work and business in general, and swapped some code.

It’s amazing to see the different things people are doing with Xojo. I got my mojo back.

And as a direct consequence of my networking last year, I got over Â£15,000 ($24,000) of Xojo Web Edition work through a contact who could not take on a new project. I went to see David Cox, a very talented Xojo developer in the UK, who has lots of Web Edition experience. He was very kind and gave me lots of design tips and advice on developing for the web, including some code to use. That day got me up and running very quickly with Web Edition and designing for the web. My project is very successful and work continues on it today.

Also last year, a Xojo contact passed me some work that I couldn’t take on, so I recommended David, who got the work. In time that led to David changing jobs to work full time for the client! So I can tell you for sure, networking with other Xojo developers can bring benefits both socially and for work. A pleasant two-hour lunch or evening meal could help to give you ideas, and could turn into paid work somewhere down the line. People like to work with people they know.

I love being a Xojo developer and since I have been actively networking with other Xojo developers, I have become a better developer.

If you don’t do any developer networking, I recommend you try. In my experience Xojo developers are very helpful and friendly, and will help you if they can.

If you don’t have a user group in your area, there could still be other developers nearby, you can use the forum to find out. I also recommend going to Xojo events and there are some coming up soon that you can try*: